In July 2016, an independent Chinese developer by the name of Yang Bing revealed a trailer for a game he was working on, calledLost Soul Aside.Yang Bing was making this game all by himself at the time and, although it had been in development for two years, it was nothing more than a proof of concept.Lost Soul Aside’s reveal trailer gained so much traction on YouTube, however, that it attracted the attention of executives at Sony Interactive Entertainment. In March 2017, Sony announced thatLost Soul Asidewould be funded and released as part of the PlayStation China Hero Project, an initiative created to support the development of games by independent Chinese developers.
Lost Soul Asidemade several appearances at PlayStation events over the coming years, but the game never seemed to inch closer to a firm release date. Yang Bing hired a team of Chinese developers and established an entirely new studio called Ultizero Games to help him finish his project. Due to this, the game suffered from several delays. After being pushed back from its initial 2020 release window,Lost Soul Asidefinally received a May 2025 release datefor PS5 and PC during the recent February PlayStation State of Play. Almost a decade has passed sinceLost Soul Asidewas first announced, and with the increase of competitors in the Chinese AAA market, there is more pressure on it to deliver than ever before.
Black Myth: Wukong Sets a High Bar for Lost Soul Aside
There Are More AAA Chinese Games for Consoles Than There Used to Be
Despite being one of the biggest markets in the video game industry, China has historically not had a major presence in the console gaming space. Because video game consoles were banned in China in 2000, there weren’t many traditional single-player AAA games coming from Chinese studios back in the day. Instead, most of them either worked on mobile games or free-to-play PC titles. Ever since the ban on consoles was fully lifted by the Chinese government in 2015, however,the Chinese gaming markethas undergone a rapid expansion. More and more studios in China are starting to develop games not only for mobile phones, but for home consoles, as well.
Black Myth: Wukong, Which Has Some Similarities to Lost Soul Aside, Was a Big Success
One of the best examples of a AAA console game from China isBlack Myth: Wukong. Released early last year for PlayStation 5 and PC (with an Xbox version still in the works), this video game adaptation ofJourney to the Westis one of the best-selling games of the last 5 years.Black Myth: Wukongsold an incredible 20 million unitsin a single month, and it had more than 2 million concurrent players on Steam upon its release. The studio that made this game, Game Science, had no prior experience making console titles before, given that it had only developed games for mobile phones. In spite of this,Black Myth: Wukongwas a roaring success and was lauded by many around the world.
Even though it started development years beforeBlack Myth: Wukongdid,Lost Soul Asideseems to share a lot in common with the hit Chinese game. Both titles are third-person action RPGs, feature some sort ofshape-shifting gameplay mechanics, and are being developed by independent developers who have never made a AAA console game before. They’re also exclusive to PlayStation consoles and Windows PCs, at least at launch.
Lost Soul Aside Could Further Establish Chinese Developers in the AAA RPG Space
Given how similar the two titles are,Lost Soul Asidehas the potential to take advantage ofBlack Myth: Wukong’s momentum. If the game does end up being legitimately great, it could sell tens of millions of copies and further establish Chinese developers inthe AAA action RPG space. Sony and Ultizero Games need to ensure thatLost Soul Asidehas a smooth launch because, if handled properly, it could really move the needle for PlayStation 5 console sales in China.
